Handshakes

As editor of the Glades County Democrat in the late 1980s, I convinced then-publisher Richard Hitt to buy a modem so that I could transmit stories from Moore Haven to Clewiston.

My friend Jeff Roslow was the editor of the Clewiston News and we served readers in Glades and Hendry counties. Internet service did not exist then in Moore Haven or Clewiston.

I transmitted stories via modem from my IBM home computer in Moore Haven to the Macintosh computer at the Clewiston office.

Before I could send a story, the computers had to "shake hands." While Roslow was in Clewiston and I was in Moore Haven, we were able to type messages to each other after the computer "handshake" and before the transmission of story text.

I thought it was very spiffy to write messages "live" and send them through the telephone lines. Today, this is known as "online chatting."

The computer "handshake" made me smile. The thought of machines greeting each other in a civilized manner made me happy.

A generation later, some people refuse to shake hands because they hold a grudge or are angry.

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